


With Apologies to Yoko Ono

by nottheleastbrave



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020)
Genre: Band Shenanigans, F/M, Gen, M/M, No beta we die like Sunset Curve, brief Luke/Alex but it's not really a thing, pre and post hot dogs, rated T for swearing teenage boys, the boys are absolute himbos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-25 18:48:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30093522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nottheleastbrave/pseuds/nottheleastbrave
Summary: “I think we should make a pact!” he says, arms thrown out wide, gesturing at all of them.“A what?” says Alex, putting a hand on his cymbal to stop it ringing.“A pact,” repeats Luke, pushing his sweaty hair out of his face. “Listen, we’re going to be famous, right?” They nod, not quite as enthusiastically as he would like, but he plows on anyway. “So we have to be prepared. We don’t want to be like one of those bands that has one big hit and then flames out and vanishes. We have to avoid the major band hazards.”Or, Luke has an idea, and somehow convinces a lot of people to go along with it.
Relationships: Alex Mercer & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters & Willie, Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 30
Kudos: 113





	With Apologies to Yoko Ono

**Author's Note:**

> A conversation with a friend spiraled into a tumblr post which spiraled into this actual fic...so enjoy? It's very silly.

It’s Luke’s idea, obviously. 

It’s the summer of 1992, and they’ve all just finished the 8th grade. The second half of the school year had seen their previous “messing around” start to crystallize into something that could, maybe, someday, be an actual band (and WOULD be an actual band, if Luke had anything to say about it). Luke had even started writing songs, and some of them weren’t half bad! Bobby said it was weird to write a song about your own name, but what did Bobby know anyway? Nothing, that’s what. Even if he did have a sweet garage. 

But they were starting high school in the fall, and they had a chance to reinvent themselves. It was a bigger school, with more kids, and lots of those kids didn’t know them yet. And sure, they could take the opportunity to fade anonymously into the background, _or_ they could work their asses off all summer and start high school as _rock stars._

Or at least, that’s the argument that Luke made, and it proved pretty effective (despite Alex’s lone vote for the “fade into the background” option). 

So now they’re halfway through July, sweating in Bobby’s un-airconditioned garage as they run through My Name Is Luke _just one more time, boys, I swear._

“Come on, Luke, haven’t we practiced enough for today? My fingers feel like they’re about to fall off,” whines Reggie. 

“Aw, buck up Reg,” replies Bobby, cuffing Reggie on the shoulder, “just think of all the girls who are going to be hanging all over us when we’re big rock stars! And boys too,” he adds, winking at Alex. Alex just rolls his eyes, but he’s also smiling, so Luke can tell he’s pleased to be included. But Luke is still stuck on what Bobby said. 

Because if they do succeed (and they _will_ ), then there are going to be girls (and boys). And that could be a problem. 

Because what if they get distracted? What if one of them starts spending time with a girlfriend (or boyfriend) instead of the band? What if the girlfriend (or boyfriend!) comes between them? What if they get Yoko Ono-ed?!?!?!

“Hey, earth to Luke!” Reggie snaps his fingers in front of Luke’s face. “Didn’t you want to run through the song one more time?” 

“Oh yeah, sorry, let’s go.” 

But after he gets home (and ignores his parents’ raised eyebrows when he tells them he and the boys had been practicing all day) Luke can’t stop thinking about it. He barely gets any sleep, but by the next morning, he has a plan. He bikes as fast as he can to the garage, bursting through the doors. 

“I think we should make a pact!” he says, arms thrown out wide, gesturing at all of them. 

“A what?” says Alex, putting a hand on his cymbal to stop it ringing. 

“A pact,” repeats Luke, pushing his sweaty hair out of his face. “Listen, we’re going to be famous, right?” They nod, not quite as enthusiastically as he would like, but he plows on anyway. “So we have to be prepared. We don’t want to be like one of those bands that has one big hit and then flames out and vanishes. We have to avoid the major band hazards.”

“The WHAT?” says Alex again, and if he’s going to say something, Luke wishes it was something more useful. 

“Band hazards! Like, signing with a bad manager. Or doing a country album.” Reggie squawks indignantly. Luke ignores him and pauses dramatically. “…or getting Yoko Ono-ed.” Luke waits for a reaction, but they all just stare at him. 

“C’mon man, _what_ are you talking about?” asks Bobbie. Luke sighs. 

“You know. Like the Beatles were the biggest band in the world, and then Yoko Ono came along, and they broke up.” 

“I feel like there was probably more to it than that?” says Alex hesitantly.

“Luke, you don’t even LIKE the Beatles,” adds Reggie. 

“So ANYWAY,” Luke cuts back in “I think we should make a pact to keep that from happening. I think we should pledge not to date anyone outside the band.” They’re all just staring at him, like they’re waiting for a further explanation. He doesn’t have one, so he just does some jazz hands and hopes that does the trick. It makes perfect sense to _him,_ why can’t they see it? 

“So you’re saying,” says Reggie slowly, “that we shouldn’t date anyone who isn’t in the band, because they might be an evil mastermind who destroys Sunset Curve?” 

“Yes exactly!”

“But we could date each other? Because we’re all in the band?” And well shit. Luke had actually been hoping no one would pick up on that little loophole. Because while it’s very important to him, he’s really not up to examining why at the moment. He has other things to worry about, like saving the band from imminent destruction! Priorities! 

“I mean I guess, but that’s not the point! The point is we can’t let the band break up.” And surprisingly it’s Alex who speaks up. 

“Well I’d sign a pact. It’s not like I have a ton of potential boyfriends anyway.” And Luke’s heart swells alarmingly, but he is still _not examining that._

“Yeah me too, nothing’s more important than you guys!” says Reggie with a grin. They all turn to look at Bobby. 

“Fine, you idiots. I’ll sign the stupid pact.” But Luke can see the edge of a smile, and Bobby never does anything he doesn’t want to do, so he’s definitely in. Suddenly Reggie perks up. 

“We should sign it in blood! That would be so cool.” 

“No that would NOT be cool, Reginald! I’m not signing anything in blood!” Alex yelps, turning pale. 

“Yeah maybe not actual blood, but Reggie’s right,” says Bobby. “We should do something to make it more official than just a piece of paper.” And that’s just like Bobby: skeptical at first, but all in once he makes up his mind. They all think for a minute. 

“Tomato juice?” suggest Reggie. They look at each other, and grin. Bobby darts into the house to find a can of tomato juice, and Luke rips a page out of his songwriting notebook and takes out a pen. 

“Hold on, you are not writing it. The pact doesn’t count if you’re the only one who can read it,” says Alex in exasperation. Luke pouts, but hands Alex the paper and pen anyway. 

Bobby gets back with the tomato juice, and there’s some arguing about the exact wording of the pact, but in the end, laid out in Alex’s neat handwriting, it reads: 

_“We, the members of Sunset Curve, the most epic band ever, hereby swear to never date anyone outside the band, because the band is sacred, and nothing can ever come between us and music. Long live Sunset Curve, tell your friends.”_

They quickly discover that it’s next to impossible to write their entire names in tomato juice, but they sign in pen, and Reggie draws the Sunset Curve logo, and then they each dip a finger in tomato juice and solemnly make a red “x” below their respective signatures. 

They tack the paper to the wall of the garage, and Luke breathes a sigh of relief. Now that that’s taken care of, they can get back to practicing. Alex catches his eye and smiles, and Luke has to quickly look away before his own smile gets out of control. (He will examine that _later_ )

___________________

“So Alex is in the band,” says Reggie without warning. It’s just the two of them in the garage, theoretically practicing but mostly just hanging out while Bobby is stuck in bed sick and Alex is off at some church thing with his parents. Luke stops strumming abruptly.

“What?”

“Alex. He’s in the band.” Reggie raises his eyebrows significantly, but that really doesn’t clear anything up. 

“Yeah, Reg, I know he’s in the band,” Luke replies slowly. “He’s always been in the band. He’s our drummer.”

“So he’s not Yoko.” _Shit._

“Of course not. He’s a guy.” _Play dumb, just play dumb, Luke._

“Luke, you know what I mean.” 

“I absolutely do not.” He goes back to strumming, looking at his finger positions with much more intensity than is warranted by the simple chord progression he’s playing. 

“Okay, fine,” says Reggie with a shrug, turning back to the dartboard. Luke breathes a sigh of relief, but just when he thinks he’s in the clear, Reggie speaks up again. “But for the record, I think you’d be cute together.” Luke jolts in surprise, somehow manages to drop his pick inside his acoustic, and has to spend several minutes shaking the guitar upside down to get it out again. By the time he succeeds he’s mostly stopped blushing, thank goodness, and Reggie is well and truly engrossed in his darts game. 

Luke is pretty sure he’s never been more embarrassed in his life. 

But it’s still nice to know that Reggie is in his corner, whatever happens.

___________________

What happens is that Luke and Alex kiss on the last day of summer vacation, and promptly discover that they were both nursing a crush of proximity more than anything else. It’s awkward for a minute, and then it’s not, because they’re still friends and they still care about each other, and if nothing else the kiss does effectively clear the air.

The Pact stays on the wall of the garage, but it’s never really in serious danger of being broken. They’re all too focused on the band to notice much of anything else. 

Surprisingly, Reggie gets the closest. There’s a girl in his calculus class that he silently pines over for about two months, waxing poetic about her hair and her laugh and, inexplicably, the way she holds a pink fuzzy pen. But when he finally gets up the nerve to talk to her she says she thinks Star Wars is “like, totally boring” and that’s that. 

It’s not like Reggie would have had time to take her out anyway, even without The Pact. They’re playing the _Orpheum_ in less than six weeks, and they’re rehearsing practically 24/7. 

And then the fateful night arrives, and Luke, Alex, and Reggie have bigger problems than a piece of paper they signed when they were fourteen. 

And then they reappear back in the garage in 2020, and Luke’s promise not to date anyone outside the band is the furthest thing from his mind. At least for a while. At least until he hears Julie sing.

___________________

Julie is…Julie is _incredible,_ and Luke hasn’t stopped thinking about their performance at her school since it happened. She didn’t just fit with Sunset Curve, she actually made them _better_ in a way he truly didn’t see coming.

And the way she came alive when she was performing! Dancing around the stage, sharing her mic, following him down to the front, looking like the fucking sun when she smiled and her eyes lit up and her face was so close to his and – 

She’s very talented, is the point. 

So why won’t she join the band? _Shit,_ does she actually not like their music??? No, she said she liked Bright. “That was a great song, Luke.” She said that! It’s fine. That can’t be it. It must be something else. 

“I mean didn’t you say she said it was because she’s worried about Flynn?” asks Alex, unimpressed, cutting into Luke’s spiral. 

“Well, yeah, but I just want to be sure she’d be cool with our sound, you know?” replies Luke. “Gotta make sure the band really meshes.” He makes a non-descript gesture with his hands that he hopes gets his point across, but Reggie just snorts. 

“Oh yeah, that’s why you want Julie in the band. For the _sound._ ” Luke narrows his eyes. 

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” 

“Oh, nothing.” 

“What, Reggie?” says Luke, a bit frustrated. A cryptic Reggie can never mean anything good. 

“Just wondering if The Pact still applies, that’s all.” And now Alex is snickering too, and fuck his friends honestly. 

“Reggie we’re _dead,_ obviously it doesn’t matter!” 

“So we don’t need to tell Julie about it? Make her sign in tomato juice blood?” asks Reggie innocently. 

“NO!” jumps in Luke, possibly a little loud. “No, we don’t. It’s fine. Leave that in ’95, or ’92, or whatever.” 

“Okay, just checking.” And Reggie goes back to tuning his bass like nothing happened. And it seems the conversation is over, with all questions apparently answered to satisfaction, but Luke can’t help feeling like Reggie knows something he doesn’t. It’s unsettling. 

And the more he thinks about it, the more this reminds him of Reggie’s smug, teasing tone when he would pester Luke about Alex and The Pact back when they were 14. But that’s…crazy. This isn’t the same situation. That’s not why he wants Julie in the band. 

Or at least, he admits to himself later, once she’s said yes (and the future is looking, dare he say, _bright,_ again), not the MAIN reason he wants her in the band. But he can’t deny that it’s a definite bonus.

___________________

It’s two months after the Orpheum (Take 2), and one month after Luke finally gets out of his own head and tells Julie how he feels, when The Pact gets brought up again.

“I just think we should agree, is all!” Luke is saying, pointing the neck of his guitar at Alex with one hand and waving his pick around with the other. “It’s important! The whole album has to _flow,_ you know?” 

“Luke, we’re not even signed yet. We don’t have to decide on the tracklist for our first album _today_ ,” laughs Julie. “We’ve got time.” 

“I just don’t want it to be something we fight about later.” stresses Luke. Reggie smirks. 

“What, you want to make us sign another pact? ‘All tracklist decisions must be unanimous’ or something?” 

“Another what?” asks Julie. 

“No you’re right, we don’t have to decide now,” interrupts Luke before anyone can answer her. “It’s fine. Let’s just focus on the gig next weekend.” Alex and Reggie are still giving each other significant looks, but Julie seems to have refocused on the music and isn’t asking any more questions, which is a relief. 

A few hours later, Luke and Julie are the only ones left in the garage. Alex and Reggie are off at the skate park with Willie (he’s teaching Reggie how to skate, which would be more terrifying if Reggie wasn’t already dead), but Luke wanted to stay behind and work on some new lyrics. 

“So what was Reggie talking about earlier? About a pact?” And shit, Luke should have known he wasn’t going to get off that easy. Julie Molina never forgets a thing. 

“Oh it’s…it’s nothing,” he says, nervously clearing his throat and turning back to his songbook. He feels the couch dip next to him, and Julie gently pushes down the book so she can see his face. She’s smiling gently at him, but there’s a twinkle in her eye and _fuck_ he is so in love with her. 

“Luke. Tell me.” And Julie is always saying that he uses his eyes like a weapon, but has she seen herself? It would take a stronger man than Luke to resist that face (not that he’s really trying). 

“Ugh fine Molina, you’re so _pushy_ ” he snarks and leans against the back of the couch. Julie stretches her legs across his lap, looking pleased with herself. He rests his hand on her shin, sighs deeply, and accepts his fate. “When we were fourteen, I got the boys to sign a pact promising not to date anyone outside the band.” Julie lets out a surprised snort of laughter and claps her hand over her mouth. And Luke can feel himself smiling dopily at making her laugh like that (even if it’s at his own expense). 

“Oh my god, _why_?” 

“I was worried, okay! We’d just started to really play, and what if we got distracted? What if we got Yoko Ono-ed???” They’re both laughing now, and Julie shoves his shoulder. 

“Luke, we’ve been over this. It wasn’t her fault! And John Lennon was a dick.” 

“I mean I know that _now._ And that’s not the point!” Julie just laughs at him again, then thinks for a minute. 

“Wait, so according to the pact, could you still date each other?”

“…yeah.”

“Luke, aren’t there way more potential problems with dating WITHIN the band?”

“I was fourteen! It made sense at the time,” he covers his face with his hands, mentally waving goodbye to his last shred of dignity. 

“Did this have anything to do with the crush you had on Alex in the 8th grade?” Julie says much too innocently. And it turns out Luke still had a bit of dignity left to lose (and also he is going to _kill_ Reggie a second time for telling her about that). 

“No?” he replies, but his voice kind of squeaks, so he’s not sure he really sells it. When he removes his hands from his face, Julie is shaking her head at him with a fond expression. 

“You’re so dumb.” Suddenly her eyes widen. “Hold up, is that why you asked me to join the band? It was just part of a plan to ask me out???”

“Maybe,” he says, smirking. But Julie levels him with a look and he can feel his whole body soften (it would be embarrassing if it were anyone but Julie, but if he’s honestly he stopped caring about embarrassing himself in front of her a long time ago). “Okay, and also because you’re the most talented person I’ve ever met in my life. Or my afterlife. And besides, I seem to remember that we joined _your_ band.” Julie nods once in satisfaction, and he can’t help adding, “I definitely noticed you were cute, though. Even when you were yelling at us.” And she’s _blushing_ now, and this conversation has definitely taken a turn for the better. 

“Oh, shut up,” she says, without heat. Luke just grins and reaches over and pulls her into his side, reveling like he always does at how perfectly her head fits tucked onto his shoulder. She’s quiet for a minute before she says, “What are we going to do about Alex, though?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, Willie’s not in the band.” Luke pulls back to look at her, to see if she’s making fun of him again, but she appears earnest. And suddenly the fact that Julie is going along with the stupid rule he made when he was 14 fills him with so much affection that he thinks he might burst with it. Because yeah, it was silly, and not well thought out, but it was really important to him at the time, and he’d like to think that 8th grade Julie would have liked 8th grade Luke. So he does the only thing he thinks he can be expected to do in this situation, and leans down and kisses her. 

When they finally break apart, Julie is lying next to him on the studio couch while he runs his fingers through her hair. Julie yawns a couple times, clearly about to drift off (she had a big math test today, he remembers. She’s probably exhausted.). But right before she falls asleep, she says quietly,

“We should ask Willie to join the band. Like, symbolically.” And then she’s out, but Luke’s mind is spinning. Because it’s not like Alex thinks they would _actually_ stop him from dating Willie because of a three-year-old (twenty-eight-year-old?) imaginary rule, but he knows Alex still cares a lot about their approval. And he knows Willie still feels bad about everything that went down with the HGC, even though they’ve all forgiven him and told him that it wasn’t his fault countless times. They could both use some reassurance, probably. 

So yeah, Luke thinks they can figure something out.

___________________

Willie is…a little nervous, to be honest. He’s standing outside the Molina’s garage, trying to get up the courage to step through the doors. But he’s really not sure what he’ll find there.

Two days earlier, Luke and Reggie had found him by the pier, both looking incredibly serious. And that was so alarming in and of itself that his brain immediately jumped to every worst-case scenario he could think of. Thankfully Luke and Reggie quickly reassured him that everyone was fine, before slipping back into their (frankly disturbing) serious mood and very formally requesting his presence in the garage studio in “two moon’s time” (“Reggie I think that means two months.” “Well what means two nights then?” “I think you just say two nights.” “Ugh whatever that doesn’t sound as cool.”). But then they say that it’s something for Alex, so of course he promises he’ll be there. 

But now he _is_ there, and he’s wishing he’d asked some more clarifying questions. Willie doesn’t think he’s ever been to the garage and not heard music coming from inside. Either the band is practicing, or Julie and Luke are writing, or the boys are trying to catch up on all the music they missed from the last 25 years. But now, it’s silent, and Willie really doesn’t know what to expect. 

Just when he’s starting to think that maybe this is all some elaborate prank and the garage is actually completely empty, the doors swing open. 

It’s Julie who opened them, and she gives him a reassuring smile before motioning him into the studio. But that’s the last even remotely normal thing that happens. 

Reggie and Luke are standing in the center of the room staring at him very solemnly. Reggie is wearing what looks like an old bathrobe and is holding a plastic lightsaber that is currently flashing between red and green. Luke is wearing what looks like a breastplate from one of those plastic suits of armor over one of his usual sleeveless band tees, and is holding a creased piece of paper. They look…Willie doesn’t really know how they look, but he has so many more questions. 

He looks around for Alex, and finds him sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. Alex looks mostly normal, except for what looks like a Burger King crown on his head. Like always he looks _so goddamn cute_ even though he also looks incredibly confused. And honestly Willie’s just relieved he isn’t the only one who’s been kept in the dark about what’s going on here. 

“William Williamson!” begins Reggie in a dramatic tone. 

“Not his name!” says Alex from the corner, and Willie catches his eye and grins. Reggie carries on like nothing happened. 

“You have been called here today as a guest of Julie and the Phantoms, but we hope you leave…” Reggie pauses dramatically, “…as something else!” Willie raises his eyebrows at Reggie and then at Alex, but Alex just shakes his head and shrugs. Luke jumps in. 

“Many moons ago” ( _Ooooh nice use of “moons,” Luke_ ) “the members of the Most Epic Band Ever signed a Pact. This Pact guaranteed that their band would never be broken up by An Enemy, and that they could play music in harmony forever. It has also come to our attention that Julie and the Phantoms does not utilize tie-dye enough in our performance wardrobes. So, to preserve the continued success of the band, do you, William Williamson…”

“Still not his name!” shouts Alex from the corner. 

“…consent to join us in this, our quest for musical greatness?” Luke dramatically brandishes the piece of paper at Willie, and he and Reggie look at him expectantly. Willie just stares back blankly: he truly has _no idea_ what’s going on. 

Julie takes pity on him and leans over and whispers in his ear. 

“Just say yes. They made a pact when they were fourteen that they were only allowed to date people who were in the band.” And she looks significantly over at Alex, and then back at Willie. “It’s a gesture.” And that is…both the cutest and dumbest thing Willie has ever heard. And definitely something the boys would do (although if he had to put money on it, he would bet that it was Luke’s idea originally). He looks back at Luke and Reggie and nods. 

“Yeah, sure. What do I have to do?” Luke and Reggie grin at each other, and Reggie dives behind the couch, pulling out a bag that Willie recognizes as being from a local thrift shop. With a flourish, he pulls out truly the most ridiculous tie-dyed windbreaker Willie has ever seen. It’s got a giant rainbow swirl spiraling out from the center, and some of that weird reflective material that seemed to be on everything in the 90s. Reggie unzips the jacket and drapes it over Willie’s shoulders. 

“Willie Williamson!” (Alex doesn’t bother to correct him this time) “Do you accept your role as Official Tie-Dye Consultant to Julie and the Phantoms, and agree to be a full-fledged member of the band?” 

“Of course, dude!” says Willie, smiling. 

“Then please kneel!” says Reggie. So Willie does, because why not? Reggie lowers the lightsaber first to one shoulder, and then the other like he’s being knighted. And Willie looks over to Alex, expecting to see him rolling his eyes or laughing at his friends, but instead Alex is…crying? A little bit? But he’s also smiling, and Willie suddenly realizes that what he thought was essentially a glorified prank might actually be _kind of a big deal._ So he snaps his attention back to Reggie just in time to hear him say: “Rise, the newest member of Julie and the Phantoms! And welcome to the band!” Julie claps and cheers, and Alex wipes his eyes in a (fruitless) attempt to hid how emotional he had been not 30 seconds ago. 

“Rad!” says Luke with a bounce, completely dropping his earlier ceremonial persona. “Now you just have to sign The Pact,” and he hands the piece of paper to Willie. 

Taking it carefully and setting it on the piano, Willie reads the decades old promise that four 14-year-old kids made to each other in this very garage, recognizing Alex’s neat handwriting. And it’s silly, sure, but there’s also something incredibly sweet about it, that these kids cared so much about sticking together that they were willing to mark it down in blood (or, probably not actual blood, knowing Alex). At the bottom of the page he sees four faded signatures with four faded red x’s below them: “Reggie” “Luke” “Bobby” “Alex,” and a much less faded x below Julie’s name, which is signed in sparkly purple ink. 

And all at once, he finally realizes what this is. This is Luke and Reggie giving him their blessing. This is them inviting him into the little makeshift family they made all those years ago, and saying that they trust him with their brother. And he can feel a burn behind his eyes because it’s kind of a lot, actually, that amount of love and acceptance and trust all at once. A hand slips into his and squeezes, and he looks over and sees Alex, smiling at him with eyes that still look a little glassy. 

He grabs the pen with his free hand and signs “Willie” right next to Alex’s name. Julie holds up a can of tomato juice, and he laughs ( _he knew it_ ), then carefully dips one finger in it and makes an x below his signature. He steps back (careful to not let go of Alex), and all five of them stare at the piece of Luke’s old songbook that holds all their names. 

“Glad you’re here, man!” says Reggie, slapping him on the back before walking out of the garage. Luke fist bumps him, and Julie gives him a tight hug, and then they’re gone as well, leaving just Willie and Alex staring at the piano, still holding hands. 

“Well. That was something,” says Alex flatly. But Willie saw his face earlier, so he knows it means a lot. 

“I for one, am relieved,” says Willie, trying to lighten the moment a little bit. “Wouldn’t want you to get kicked out the band because of _me._ ” But instead of laughing Alex looks at him seriously and says, 

“I would, you know. Get kicked out of the band for you.” And Willie catches his breath and almost argues, because Alex’s faith in him still feels so _new_ and _raw_ sometimes, but he doesn’t. Instead, he says, 

“Yeah, but they’d never actually make you choose,” motioning towards to open door of the garage to indicate Luke and Reggie (and Julie, for all that she’s a more recent addition to Alex’s life). “They love you too much.” Alex looks down at his shoes and smiles softly. 

“Yeah, they’re pretty great, when they want to be.” 

“Yeah, they really are.” And Willie thinks that of all the contracts he’s signed in his afterlife (and there have been a few), this is the first one that he’s not going to regret.

**Author's Note:**

> Listen, I see all your fics about the kids stressing about dating within the band, and I raise you: what if that but 100% dumber. Hence: this. 
> 
> Did Reggie have a crush on Cher Horowitz? Maybe. (I realize this doesn't quite work but I realized Clueless came out in 1995 and couldn't stop thinking about it so just let me have this)
> 
> Also highly recommend the podcast You're Wrong About, and specifically the episode about Yoko Ono.


End file.
